“I’ll sleep later. Who knows? Maybe blacking out like that stored up my energy.”
“Which reminds me.” She snapped her fingers. “We need to call Martha’s friend this morning—the doctor. What if you pass out before our meeting with Linc?”
“Not optimal.” He pinched a piece of bacon between his fingers and bit off the end. “Pretty good. I made eggs, too.”
She pulled a stool up to the counter and straddled it. “I see you dried your clothes and got dressed. How long have you been up?”
“Just over an hour.”
“Nobody snooping around the boathouse?”
“I don’t think we have to worry about that, Paige. The boathouse is on private property. Nobody has any reason to suspect anything. Even Linc doesn’t know Peter’s current condition.”
She pulled Peter’s phone toward her by the cord, entered his password and read the text exchange between Linc and Asher. “So, he made contact first?”
“Asked for an update. As you can read, I told him no movement and inquired about our next move.”
“How’s this going to work?” She nodded as Asher held a spatula full of scrambled eggs over a plate.
“Not sure yet. Maybe an ambush.”
“With all your busy texting, did you contact the doc yet?”
“No. Do you want to do the honors?”
“He needs to get here before Linc does if we’re meeting him at this house.” She wrinkled her nose. “And if we are, that boathouse is going to get pretty crowded.”
“As long as we’re not among its inhabitants.” He winked and dumped the eggs onto her plate.
An hour later, Martha’s friend knocked at the door. As Paige put her eye to the peephole, the doctor took a step back and displayed his hospital ID with his name printed on it.
Grabbing the handle of the door, she glanced at Asher hovering to her right, his gun drawn. “He’s legit.”
Asher pocketed his gun, and Paige swung open the door with a smile. “Dr. Tucker? Thanks for coming out.”
“Call me Preston. Martha and I go way back to our prep school days, and I’d do anything for her.”
“Can I get you something to drink?”
“Something hot. It’s getting cold out there.” Preston clamped his black bag between his body and arm and rubbed his hands together.
“Hot tea?” She jerked her thumb at Asher. “He’s the patient. Asher, Preston.”
As the two men shook hands, Asher said, “I don’t know how much Martha told you...”
Preston held up one hand. “I don’t need to know the how or why. Martha explained your issue to me, and I believe I have a remedy. I’m going to need to take some of your blood, and I’m going to give you a shot as a counteragent if it’s what I think it is. If after looking at your blood, it turns out to be something else, I’ll let you know.”
Asher narrowed his eyes. “If it’s not what you think it is and you give me the shot anyway, is that going to have some negative effect on me? Kill me? Make me impotent?”
Paige snorted.
Preston shoved his glasses up the bridge of his nose, all business. “If it’s not the drug I believe to be running through your system, this antidote is harmless. If I analyze your blood and find something else...I’ll have to do more research.”
“And he’ll continue to be affected.” Paige laced her fingers in front of her and squeezed them together to keep from fidgeting nervously.
“He may continue to pass out at random intervals.” Preston’s thin lips eked out a smile. “But let’s think positive thoughts.”
His head flicked from side to side like a bird’s. “Can we sit at the dining room table?”
Paige retrieved a clean dish towel from beneath the sink and spread it on the table. As Preston readied his tools of the trade, Paige put on the teakettle.
“Asher, do you want some water?”
“Yeah, thanks.” He looked up from rolling the sleeve of his shirt and exposing his veins for Preston.
She placed a glass of water on the table next to Asher as Preston swiped an antiseptic pad over the inside of his elbow. “Your tea is coming up.”
Preston nodded and then held up a vial between two fingers. “I’m not going to take much. Just enough to fill this vial.”
Paige turned away as the needle plunged into Asher’s arm. The teakettle’s whistle saved her and she scurried to the kitchen, anxious to get away from the sight of Asher’s blood pumping into the glass container.
She prepped the tea and returned to the dining room table, carrying a mug in each hand. “Good, I missed the gory stuff.”
Asher raised his brows at her and her cheeks warmed. Of course, they’d just hauled a body from the house, but Peter hadn’t been bleeding anywhere, which made rolling him up in canvas a lot less icky than seeing blood trickle down the side of a glass vial.
Setting the mug in front of Preston, she asked, “Milk or sugar?”
“Black is fine.” Preston capped the vial and slipped it into a plastic bag. “One more needle, if you can take it.”
“I have to admit, I’ve had my fill of needles, but if this is the last one, I can take it.” Asher presented his other arm. “How’s it going to make me feel? Any immediate reaction?”
“It might feel like you just drank five energy drinks, but that will subside.” He tapped the water glass with the needle. “Keep drinking water.”
“And if I still pass out today like I did yesterday?”
“It means my diagnosis and assessment were wrong, and you should call me immediately.”
Paige took her tea and wandered to the back door, staring out at the boat dock. They hadn’t done anything wrong. Peter had killed himself. They couldn’t have saved him even if they’d called 911.
She pressed the warm cup against her face. Second house, second dead body. Would Linc be a third? What would Asher have done with Peter if he hadn’t offed himself? What would he do with Linc if he didn’t get the answers he wanted?
“All done, chicken.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “I don’t mind injections, but I don’t like the blood.”
“I’m finished.” Preston peeled the gloves from his hands. “I’m confident we did the right thing here.”
“What do we owe you?” Asher gulped down the rest of his water and pushed back from the table.
“Nothing. If you’re a friend of Martha’s, you’re a friend of mine.” Preston cupped the mug in his hands and slurped a sip of tea. “You’re military, like Martha’s new guy?”
“Yeah.”
Preston squinted at Asher through the steam rising from his tea. “That’s it. Don’t look so fierce. I’m not going to interrogate you. I told you I didn’t need the details.”
Paige studied Preston’s face. Had he been crushing on Martha before that big, tough D-Boy Cam Sutton had come in and swept her off her feet? “Did you have a thing for Martha?”
“Me?” One side of Preston’s mouth turned up as he took off his glasses and wiped them with a cloth. “She’s a darling girl, but I’m gay. That’s how we got close in school—just a couple of misfits in that environment.”
“We appreciate your help, Preston.” Asher pressed a hand against his chest. “You weren’t kidding about the adrenaline rush.”
“Are you okay?” Preston reached for his bag. “I can take your blood pressure.”
“I’m okay.” Asher held up his water glass. “I’ll keep drinking this stuff, right?”
“It’ll pass within an hour or so. You can reach me at the number you called before if you need help. If that blood test doesn’t yield the result I expect, I’ll be calling you.” Preston took a few more sips of his tea. “Is that all you need?”
“What else do you have in that black bag?” Asher leveled an unsteady finger at Pre
ston’s medical bag on the table.
“A full complement of medical supplies...and some drugs. What is it you’re looking for, Asher?”
Paige’s eyes popped open as she watched Asher pace to the window and back. Had he become dependent on those drugs he’d been getting at Hidden Hills? She wouldn’t put it past that bunch to get Asher addicted.
“If you have it, I’d like a syringe or two of something that can knock someone out—fast, put ’em out like—” Asher snapped his fingers “—that.”
“No lasting effects but fast-acting and total?”
“That’s it.”
“I have just the thing.” Preston unzipped his bag and plucked two plastic wrapped syringes from an inside pocket. He smacked them down on the table. “The effects of this should last a good twenty-four hours. Best administered in a large muscle, like a thigh or buttocks.”
“Through clothing?” Asher returned to the table and nudged the needles with his finger.
“As long as the needle goes through.” Preston drained his teacup and clicked it back onto the table. “Now, before I let my feelings for Martha get me into any more trouble, I’ll leave you.”
Paige handed Preston his coat at the door. “Thank you so much, Preston.”
“Thanks, man.” Asher thrust out his hand. “And remember, discretion.”
“Do you think I want anything I’ve done today to get out? I’m asking for the same.”
“We never heard of you.”
When they sent Preston on his way, Paige spun toward Asher. “What are you going to use those for?”
“Might come in handy for Linc or anyone else who decides to make a move on us.”
She placed both hands on his shoulders. “How are you feeling? Still hyped up?”
“Yeah. Maybe I should take a jog along the bay to work it off.”
“Don’t you dare. We don’t want anyone to spot us here. If the police find Peter’s body before his associates do, we could be investigated for murder. Fingerprints, fiber—Homicide would have a field day with all the evidence.”
“But we didn’t kill Peter. He killed himself.” Asher wrenched away from her to take a lap around the family room.
She tracked him with her gaze. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t even want to go down that road.”
“Paige, that’s the least of our worries. The people setting up Major Denver, the people after us are never going to allow one of their own to become the subject of a murder investigation or even a missing person’s investigation.”
She put a hand to her head. “I’m getting anxious just watching you. Are you sure you’re okay? Can you sit down for a minute?”
“I’m fine—agitated, just like the doc warned.”
“I don’t want to have that meeting with Linc until you’re...unagitated. There’s no telling what you’ll do to him in this state.”
“Preston said this will last just about an hour. We have plenty of time. I’d rather get Linc out here in the cover of darkness.”
“How are we going to spend the rest of the afternoon?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Our enemies are off our trail for the time being, it’s cold outside and warm inside, and I’m hopped up on something that’s giving me an incredible sense of vitality.” He wiggled his eyebrows up and down. “I can think of the perfect way to spend an afternoon alone with my fiancée.”
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up with the Energizer Bunny.” Paige tilted her head and pursed her lips, but her heart had started racing.
“There’s only one way to find out.” He swooped in and swept her off her feet.
She screamed and kicked her legs, a sense of relief flooding her body with the thought that maybe they could find some normalcy in this unnatural situation.
Asher stooped next to the coffee table and her legs dipped down as he grabbed his gun. “I hope this doesn’t kill the romance for you.”
“The fact that you want to keep me safe only heightens it.” She tucked her head in the crook of his neck. So much for normalcy.
Asher carried her up the stairs effortlessly and eagerly. Either he couldn’t wait to make love or his current manic state was driving him.
One way or the other, she didn’t care. Instead she squealed when he kicked open the bedroom door.
He dumped her on the bed and she scrambled to her knees, tugging on the hem of Asher’s T-shirt. “You’ve been teasing me with this bod for days now—playing peek-a-boo with your backside in the hospital gown, taking showers with your clothes off.”
“Imagine that.” He spread his arms so she could roll his shirt up his torso.
“Go ahead and pull it off. I can’t reach that high.”
He yanked the shirt over his head and tossed it over his shoulder.
Paige skimmed her hands over his chest and hooked her fingers in the waistband of his jeans. “I knew there was a good reason why I didn’t buy you a belt.”
He tapped his foot while she undid the buttons of his fly. “You can’t move any faster than that?”
“You’d better slow down, mister. I’ve waited a long time for this moment, and I’m not going to be rushed.”
His chest expanded as he took a big breath, and his lashes fluttered closed. “I’ll try.”
Paige opened his fly and peeled his jeans from his hips. She ran her hand across the front of his briefs. “Do you think that antidote is going to give you a ramped-up erection, too?”
“I think I’m already there.”
Paige clicked her tongue. “I told you to slow down.”
“I think daytime sex should be rowdier and faster, don’t you?”
“Oh, is that the problem? It’s too light out for you?” Paige scooted off the bed. “I’m going to close these drapes and trick you.”
She bounded to the window and grabbed handfuls of the drapes on either side of the window, her gaze automatically shifting to the boathouse with the dead guy inside—or so she thought.
A chill gripped the back of her neck and she choked. “My God. It’s Peter.”
“Someone found him?”
She whipped her head around, clutching one side of the drapes to her body. “No, he came back to life.”
Chapter Fourteen
Asher pressed his face to the glass, fogging it up. He wiped a circle with his fist and swore again.
His gaze locked onto Peter, or someone who looked a lot like him, standing outside the boathouse staring at the bay.
“Maybe it’s not him. Maybe it’s someone else.”
“Which could be almost as bad. I don’t understand. Peter was dead.” Paige’s eyes took up half her face. “Wasn’t he?”
“Let’s ask him.” Asher yanked up his jeans and dived across the bed to grab his T-shirt and gun. As he raced down the stairs, he heard Paige coming in fast after him. He twisted his head over his shoulder when he reached the first floor. “Stay here.”
“Are you kidding? I’ve never seen a man come back from the dead before.”
Asher pulled on his boots and struggled into his jacket as he lunged for the back door.
With his gun in his pocket, he charged across the back lawn toward the water’s edge. If Peter had all his faculties, he wasn’t using them.
The man gazing out at the bay didn’t even turn around, didn’t make a move.
Asher scooped in a deep breath and grabbed Peter from behind with one arm. Although the man in his grasp wasn’t dead, his icy-cold flesh might fool a coroner.
Peter staggered forward and then twisted around, wielding a knife.
Paige screamed. “Look out.”
A second later, Asher jabbed the syringe he had in his fist into Peter’s thigh through the denim of his pants.
Peter dropped immediately.
Asher looked up and
down the shoreline, squinting at the other houses. “God, it’s broad daylight. Is there anyone out, Paige? Did anyone witness this?”
“There’s nobody. Martha said the nearest house is vacant, and the other house is too far away to see anything, unless someone has binoculars trained on us—and why would they?”
“I would’ve liked to have questioned him some more, but he didn’t give me a choice.” Asher kicked the knife that had fallen from Peter’s hand into the bay.
“Preston did say the stuff in the syringe would last up to twenty-four hours, didn’t he?”
“Yep. That means we’ll have to get out of here after we meet with Linc.”
Paige pointed to Peter’s inert form on the ground. “I suppose we’d better get him back into the boathouse. I still don’t understand what happened. He was not breathing when we carried him out here the first time. He didn’t have a pulse.”
“That we noticed.” Asher crouched and slid his hand beneath Peter’s arms. “The mad scientists at Hidden Hills have proved themselves to be adept at concocting a variety of strange-acting drugs. It’s not a stretch to think these...agents are equipped with one that simulates death.”
“He’s one lucky guy.” Paige backed up to the boathouse door, which Peter had left standing open. “What if we had dumped his body in the bay? He would’ve died for real.”
“I guess it was a chance he was willing to take. He probably thought we would leave him right there in the house and make our escape.”
“Maybe we should have.” Paige held the boathouse door open for him as he dragged Peter back inside.
He dumped him on top of the canvas. “We don’t need to wrap him up. I’m surprised he didn’t suffocate in there.”
“You still have the other syringe, don’t you?”
“It has Linc’s name on it.”
After they stashed Peter in the boathouse and hooked a padlock on the outside, they returned to the house.
The antidote that had been racing through his system seemed to have diluted. After the excitement of seeing a man rise from the dead, his heart rate had returned to normal and unfortunately his raging erection had subsided.
Delta Force Daddy Page 14